Alpha-1 Lung Disease Treatment

Treatment of Alpha-1 is important and includes:

Medications

People with Alpha-1 may live long, healthy lives without ever getting lung or liver problems from their Alpha-1. For those who develop emphysema or COPD, treatment starts with the same medications and therapies used for those who get COPD without Alpha-1. The medications include:

In addition, specific therapy has been available for Alpha-1 lung disease since 1987, a class of medicine called augmentation therapy. This medication augments the alpha-1 antitrypsin protein in the blood with normal alpha-1 antitrypsin from healthy plasma donors and is infused into an arm vein. The dose is adjusted based on body weight, and this treatment is given once a week. This therapy does not help people with liver disease due to Alpha-1. There are currently four brands of augmentation therapy approved in the U.S. They include: